Dear Faith Encouraged Family,
Fr. Barnabas leaves this Saturday to attend and present at the 2nd International Conference on Digital Media and Orthodox Pastoral Care to be held in Chania, Crete, Greece June 18-21. (www.dmopc18.com)
This conference draws on an international representatives from several Orthodox Local Churches as well as representatives from over 21 countries. And the…
Debt is a prison. Just ask anyone still paying Federal School Loans. The truth is the modern phenomenon of Student Loans is a ticking time bomb in our economy as more and more people find a sense of hopelessness in ever escaping the burden of paying for higher education.
But a sense of indebtedness isn’t…
On August 28, 1963, Baptist minister and civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech on the mall in Washington, D.C. In it he uttered the equally famous line “Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we’re free at last.” These words still stir my heart…
All my life, I’ve dreamed of having some kind of superhero power. When I was a boy, I wanted to be like Superman and have the ability to run around the world really fast and pick up trucks and stop speeding bullets. “Why,” you may ask. Because it’s cool! That’s why!
I bet I’m not the…
“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found. Was blind, but now I see.”
I can still hear my grandmother singing that song when I was just a little boy. It’s almost one of the earliest memories I have of her. She and…
What struck me was his strong, silent presence even in the face of chaos and tragedy. Here we were, dealing with the human tragedy and destruction of the aftermath of a hurricane. We were there as clergy to help people. We were moving through the American Red Cross “tent city” and it was set up…
I love this line from Shakespeare:
“Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge rims at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know…
Marketing experts expect U.S. companies to spend over 200 BILLION dollars on advertising and marketing this year. While TV advertising is still number one in marketing dollars, online ads are gaining ground, with the mobile ads starting to appear on the phone screens of Americans gaining the most ground.
And do you know why American companies will spend…
The whole notion of a high priest is so foreign to we egalitarian Americans and moderns. We are centuries removed from a time when hierarchy and royalty were the norm. But it’s helpful to remember that, for the vast majority of Christians who have ever lived, the notion of a hierarchy and even monarchy was…